Eagles will stay in-house to replace Jason Peters, Jordan Hicks - for now

You have to wonder now how much more the Eagles can take when it comes to injuries.

Head coach Doug Pederson confirmed on Tuesday that left tackle Jason Peters and linebacker Jordan Hicks will be lost for the remainder of the season after Peters tore an ACL and MCL in his right knee and Jordan ruptured his right Achilles tendon.

Factor in the season-ending injury to running back Darren Sproles along with what’s probably a season-ending PCL tear to Maragos, and that is four key components the team will be without over the final nine games.

“It’s definitely the next man up and they rally around the guys that are hurt,” aid Pederson. “Number one, support them, but at the same time, the bigger picture, we have a lot of football left, we still have a game this Sunday (against the San Francisco 49ers) and the season’s not over.

“They continue to practice hard, play hard and they rally around a guy like Big V now, who, listen, he’s not a rookie now, he’s not that spring chicken who’s playing for the first time. He played significant time last year, he’s played already this year. We have a lot of confidence in all the guys.”

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Big V – Halapoulivaati Vaitai – will get the first crack at replacing Peters. Isaac Seumalo will also begin taking tackle reps. Seumalo made a start at right tackle against the Ravens last year and help up well. The coach also mentioned the possibility of getting Dillon Gordon involved.

“We’ll start in-house,” Pederson said. “We had some guys in camp we can obviously look at to bring back then outside to see if there’s a veteran guy out there who can fill a role or a need. Our personnel department is on it right now. We’ll fill it when the time comes.”

Pederson isn’t sure if the player known as Big V will play on the left side, which was where Peters worked, or on the right, with Lane Johnson moving from right to left.

The coach said he would talk with offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland and offensive coordinator Frank Reich over the next 24 hours to determine the plan.

Johnson said after the 34-24 win he is fine with whatever is asked of him. The veteran tackle did, however, point out that things aren’t exactly easier on the right side, especially with Broncos pass rush star Von Miller visiting in two weeks and with two games still left against Dallas’ DeMarcus Lawrence, who leads the league in sacks with 8.5.

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The in-house approach will be taken at linebacker, too, to replace Hicks. Mychal Kendricks missed Monday’s game with a hamstring injury, but Pederson said he was close to playing.

“Joe Walker can fill that spot, Nigel (Bradham), there’s some flexibility there,” said Pederson. “It may take two guys to fill that spot like we’ve done at other positions. A lot of flexibility, but we just have to get our guys ready to play for Sunday.”

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